Kenjutsu Dojo Training
Inkroe, Master Swordman Along the long list of titles for Inkroe is Master Swordman. A dojo temple is where he decides to train students desiring to wield swords. Even before the Bokken, you have training to do. The long path to training with a sword.. TakedaInkroe: -I was stood at the top of one of the large peaks in the Land of Tea, this mountain was unnamed, wether through its anonymity or through lack of effort and from its peak sprang the first of the springs which ran down into becoming a waterfall, one of the great many waterfalls which rained over Yonshigakure, and also at its peak was a massive mountain temple, simple in design and simpler in its single building location behind a large spread out stone tile arena, a temple which would was slowly becoming Takeda Inkroe's only place of physical training.. and the place where he intended to keep the promises he had made. The Kenjutsu temple would now and forever onwards be a place where the strong of will, dedication and commitment would find a place to train, learn and gain an understanding of the acts of battle, war and swordsmanship. My clothing was black and rugged, the Yonshi Seven Gi I wore was torn and fading with dust and rip and upon my back was a simple wooden blade, as likely to break on a strike as it was to do damage, but it was for training, not for killing. I awaited the arrival of the girl I had sent word for, the girl who came to me first admitting interest and desire to learn Kenjutsu. A girl who I believed was as of yet an untapped resource of prowess and skill, perhaps though lack of training or lack of refinement, it mattered not. Should she attend me, she would be getting all the training she could handle.- NamikazeSoudai: The path to this training grounds was a bit different than the others. The nearest thundergod gate had you hiking your way up here (?) a workout before the workout. Each step she made, each step anyone made making their way to a place where Ink summoned you could be very frightening since you didn't know what he had in store for you. Soudai often wondered if his students had issues with their bladder, the nervousness and constant dread of death when interacting with him could be overwhelming. Soudai was a tad bit nervous, but assumed his role of Kage took him from that complicated often times..rough person that he was before that.. A Kenjutsu temple this place was called but Soudai didn't think any religious worshipping took place here, unless thes words were that sacred to those who trained here. Soudai's clothing was oddly picked today, straw hat and a bijuu mask were out of place to be worn by her. She also wore her hair differently, perferring that style over her others when wearing hats. It was muggy today, the mist lingered throughout Yonshigakure, even the Yonshi coast had some clouds that just wouldn't leave. There were no sounds of thunder though and whatever rain came was very short. She would arrive in time to have not kept him waiting too long, most shinobis who summoned others timed their message so they were both nearly arrive at the same time or arrive at a time where the summoner had time to do what he/she needed to do before that person arrived. She bowed politely once seeing Inkroe, second Kage of Yonshigakure, and approuched to a distance where she could hear him without him shouting. TakedaInkroe: -I nodded, returning a bow as I brought my hands together and greeted her coldly.- "You may remove that lumbersome clothing, simpler clothing is inside if you desire it.." -I spoke frankly, such training did not bode well with thick clothes or heavy restrictions of fabric.- "You may also find a wooden sword inside.. if you failed to bring your own.." -I took a few careful steps across the arena and found myself looking to an empty vastness, expecting that it would soon be filled by a more prepared Soudai.- NamikazeSoudai: She nodded..Simplier clothing and a wooden sword..It was the back to the basics training to begin with. She did have a bokken sword taken from another of his training grounds before by his permission but she had not remember to bring it, which was understandable, Soudai had many outfit changes and sometimes lacked shurikens and kunai pouches, but her katana was almost never away from her save the rare occasion she wanted to dress up for a date. When went inside and came back out, lacking the straw hat, lacking the bijuu mask, her hair fixed back the way she usually liked it, a style which didn't permit any hair to get into her eyes. The clothing that was available came down to deciding on a white one..or a black one for Soudai..She went with black, it was similar to a outfit she wore often anyway. She approuched closer to him, beginning down at the basics did not bother her, it would only have her remember what she knew already and/or learn something she either forgot or never knew. Most dojos had their own style of training, each one providing a new insight to how to use weapons, if Soudai did not reach the ultimate accomplishment of wielding a Yonshi7 sword, she would still feel accomplished by learning a few things, bettering her swordplay beyond how it is at this moment. TakedaInkroe: "The Arts of Battle, War and Swordsmanship are all different, all varied and all rely upon and have nothing to do with each other." -Lacking any obvious emotion as I recited the words I had been told by family, sensei and teachers, my face not simply due to the tight silken cloth mask but also because of my discipline I maintained an entirely straight face as I stood up straight before her.- "They share one thing always in common, Control." -I raised up my left hand to the hilt behind my left shoulder and brought the Bokken down, resting the tip against the ground as I held it loosely.- "Control is everything, you control yourself without even knowing it and you control your enemy without meaning to, but we must take this multiple steps further. By taking control of all assets and outputs we control all things, from the moment we engage to the moment we defeat our opponent." -I began walking around Soudai closely, inspecting her clothing, her body, her hair and her face, circling her like a hawk, my large build not so muscular as it was toned and my proximity to her not intending to be daunting, but I made sure I was close enough to try and force some response.. I rounded the girl four times at my leisure and then would return to stand befor her.- NamikazeSoudai: To say the least, he was a frightening man when he wanted to be.. Soudai watched him as each time he passed by her line of sight. She knew to move if he attacked but she wouldn't, she knew she should have been watching every move but she only waited until he came across the still unmoving Soudai's line of sight before her eyes would lock back on. She had a single lesson of bokken/sword training with Ink before, one where he taught her and others a area of offense and defense which when you were in you could attack, and when the enemy was in you could defend his/her attack. ((Undocumented apparently.)) "Yes master.." She would reply, seeming fitting for someone who was the master of skills at a dojo, the teacher. "Control yourself, control the area, control your enemies." She would reply to make sure that Ink knew she was listening. Perhaps Soudai wold stay here until a time she felt fitting to return to the world outside of the dojo, with new skills, if she was serious about her kenjutsu training she should. TakedaInkroe: -Now standing seven feet away from the girl I looked her in the eye as I continued.- "We control our emotions, to deceive, confuse, convince and often corrupt our opponent. We control our position, to dictate the battle, dictate where our enemy must be, to determine where we will engage, what will take place. We control our actions, to disrupt thought, to force action, to counter thought and make a false reality their own. We control our words, our motions, our output or how we are perceived and our intent.. we control all things, so that what is true - is what we want to be true.. and what is false? is merely what we have convinced them is false." -I raised up the bokken with my left hand until the point was directed at Soudai's face, and proceeded to repeat several jabbing motions, all of them fell short of her body by inches.- "What do you see, what do you know, what do you think?" NamikazeSoudai: She listened to his words like they were spoken down from the heavens by god itself. "I see a length in which you are jabbing at me. I see a speed in which you are attacking. I know that none of those are true, that you are controlling the speed and length with your bokken to have me assume that is your limits." She paused a moment to think onto what she thought. "My thoughts are..how far is his true length..how fast is his true speed. How quickly a blow would knock me down. How much strength i would need to block your bokken with my own. How many steps back i would need or steps forwards to allow you to hit me at the speed in which you are jabbing, would that move put me in a advantage or a disadvantage.." She said softly. Perhaps that was too many thoughts and would result in her making a action too late. Perhaps it was too little of thoughts, not the right ones, but a learning process would teach her. TakedaInkroe: -I swiped the Bokken through the air repeatedly, no doubt making clear the fact that in my current position and without a change of grip even in a hundred years the tip would not graze the surface of her skin.- "Think only of what you can know, not of what might be. To estimate true length, strength or ability is to again make estimations.. but good" -I nodded as I lowered the bokken from head height and if notice would be paid to my grip and the bokken itself, on my hands path down, in lowering the wooden blade I had loosed my grip and allowed the Bokken to slip two inches further down the blade, meaning that the tip was now tapping against the floor two inches closer to Soudai's feet then it originally had done when my hand gripped the guard of the hilt.- "Nothing is absolute, nothing is certain and nothing you should ever do should be honest." -I raised my right hand to my neck and rubbed at the muscle for a moment, pondering where to go from here, the lessons had always stuck in my head, but the method of teaching was lost to my memory, merely faces of my uncle, mother and father remained.- "I took the life of my friend in the Academy Graduation of the Hidden Mist.." -I licked my lips.- "He assumed that my bokken was three feet in length, which it was.." -I raised up the bokken in my left hand as I lowered my right hand to support the tip of the bokken, holding the Bokken before Soudai so that she might see and understand. I placed my right index finger on the tip of the bokken as my left hand gripped the hilt.- "Three feet." -And then I moved my right hand index finger out, away from the tip a good length before stopping.- "And Six inches." -I lowered the Bokken slowly.- "Assume nothing to be what you believe it should be, and use the assumptions of your enemy to your advantage." NamikazeSoudai : "Sounds complex and paranoid.." She admits, taking a step back to further the distance from Ink, the length of his bokken, and their words. He admitted to killing his friend from the academy but Soudai wasn't too surprised by it. She did not know too much about Hidden Mist but knew that the shinobi life isn't filled with fields of flowers that is countlessly danced through all holly and jolly. Whatever Ink had done in the pass made him who he was today, all his students came out of the chuunin exams without killing one of the other.. A sword was not to be taken lightly as he deminstrated so easily but so unsuspecting to her. He would sacrifice power with that grip compared to the earlier one but if it was a katana or any bladed weapon, it would still cut, could still kill. Soudai had noticed his change in grip, she was a observant person which occupied her time spent not talking to people, not sharing her emotions or taking a complete care-free lifestyle. "Swords, the katana, they are weapons of a samurai. Why do we shinobi who wield ninjutsu and chakra enchanced attacks desire to also weapon the blade?" She asked out of nowhere, perhaps it was simply a statement about keeping traditions, a sling and stone had been out of use for ages now. But wield it, train with it, and use it agaisn't a enemy. Still useful. TakedaInkroe: -I raised a confused eyebrow, the only one which was out in the open but quickly repeated the motion and lowered it, looking back to the temple complex itself for a mere moment before looking back to her and speaking in return.- "Shinobi should be no more limited to their choice of weapon then the sea is limited in creatures, the blade for one is silent and deadly, no more does it make a resounding noise then a bird soaring through the skies. Silent Killing, the art of silently killing your opponent before he or she can react for example.. say if you infiltrated a Hidden Village and it was your wish to take the life from the Kage.. would you engage in creating a massive lightning storm, summon a terrifying tiger or series of traps..? begin creating a large wave of water? Effective, they all may be. But the more bodacious and large your attempt, the more alert to your presence others will be.. hence why shinobi often turn to blades.. no more noise is often heard then the death rattle.. by the time the guards, passing civilians or staff have discovered your target, you can already be gone and gone again." NamikazeSoudai: Soudai smiled, she knew a weapon besides the techniques and weapons she wielded now or learned to wield later would be a advantage in a situation. She had wanted to hear from Ink why he believed a sword was usable, it would be interesting to see his views, in the coming weeks if he continued to train her she would continue to take his teaching, his words. It was philosophy to Soudai's mind, why did a katana when you slash and didn't cut when you slash. Why are there so many techniques to the use of swords and so many techniques for different kinds of swords. The advantages and disadvantages of having a long sword or a short sword. Soudai had always thought of Inkroe as the swordmaster of the lands. He has had the experience, the skills, and the weapons. She was rare to seek training from anyone but Saiyuki, but for kenjutsu, swordwomanship, and how to be a shinobi with a blade, it would be the kage she got that training from. "Silent killing.." She repeated.."How do i stop my enemies from screaming before their death.." TakedaInkroe: "Destroy their windpipe.." -I nodded and raised my right hand thumb to my neck, performing the slightest of sideways motions indicating that a simple slice could solve the issue.- "By severing the windpipe and cutting the carotid artery.. you ensure death and silence.. from which the term death rattle comes.." -I lowered my hand and maintained a loose stance.- "When the last breath of your target exhales in a scream, it forces out the blood which is flowing down their windpipe.." -For once it seemed as if I was getting slightly enthused with the subject I was speaking about.- "naturally we will speak of important strike locations later in your training.. not all battles can be with a sleeping or unaware opponent.." NamikazeSoudai : "Of course.." She replied, looking down at the battle/training ground they were standing on. They tiles, the buildings, the walls, they were not exactly new in appearance. They have fought the weather, the countless movement of feet, the occasion when the walls became victim of someone being pushed to it. The building probably had shinbois in there at some point, sleeping, eating, waking to train endlessly that day. Would Soudai become a shinobi like that? If she was true to learning kenjutsu then it would be best probably to commit her life completely to training it. That would mean staying up there for weeks on end, repeating the same training over and over. In truth, Soudai wanted to be a ninjutsu/kenjutsu person..If that was so then spending that amount of time just on kenjutsu, would that hurt her. "Is this my home now?" She questions softly, looking at that red building, wondering if it was sleeping on a cold hard floor and endless meals of rice. TakedaInkroe: -I shook my head.- "This is no home any more then it is a bath house. You shall live in Yonshigakure still I expect, where you may continue learning and growing with your team.. as I will remain and take my role as.. " -I felt like spitting.- "Kage.. Solitary training should only be enacted to improve fitness and skill, until that point is reached learning and the gaining of experience through multiple outlets outweighs the need to remain in such a place.." -I shrugged.- "You will need to begin Strength, Speed and Stamina training.. it is vital that you be able to fight and produce results on increasingly higher levels if you aim to survive.. until you have reached a point of physical fitness and physical solidarity, our training will be limited to simple teachings and practical means.." -I chewed my lip for a moment and looked Soudai over.- NamikazeSoudai: Ouch..Sure she had stamina and speed down give or take some more improvements but strength would be a tough training for her for she hadn't really focused on it which Ink's eyes was probably realizing now. She wondered if it would be like Taka's boulder on his back training..Or Nobu's weights on his body or perhaps something would be design to suit her. She was a bit glad and a bit dissapointed she wouldn't be calling this place home now. On the one hand she was glad she could still be learning ninjutsu from Saiyuki. On the other hand being up here in solitude focusing on one thing at a time felt like it would have been better for her personality and improvement. If she could go silent starting today she would probably not do too bad to keep that promise, Soudai had no issues with keeping her mouth shut. ((in character anyway.)) "You may teach me when ready." She informed. It could begin now, it could be tomorrow, weeks from now..She was ready though, with her family away and not really doing any missions yet, it wouldn't be too hard to just fall into a routine of pure training. TakedaInkroe: -Looking over Soudai it was becoming clear that her frame was not going to be one for bulking up, and in a way trying to bulk her up would ruin her figure and form, even take away from her speed and ability to perform.. not this would have to be a different kind of strength training, more toning of body and ability then making her body more powerful.- "Can you climb, can you swim, can you dig?" -I asked, nearly confident in her ability to do all three.- NamikazeSoudai: "Well of course i can." She said feeling a bit off from the question and a awkward smile proved that. She wondered if Taka would treat her differently from the rumored rough painful training that his squad had endured over and shaped them into the..monsters they are now..She smiled a little more, imagining Jinora as a mini godzilla rampaging through Yonshigakure with that blonde hair of hers. TakedaInkroe: "And you can obviously run.. you know how to perform sit ups.. press ups.." -I said as I placed the Bokken back upon my back and folded my arms in thought.- "Then you will perform all your training with me, here without the use of chakra." -I looked over her again, a final check of what I saw now and what I assumed I would see within a few months.. perhaps a year..- "The key to physical stamina is pushing your body to its peak.. and then next time pushing that peak further.. and further.. every time you train, you push that peak higher.. and so it will be that we will make your muscles more responsive, your body more agile, your heart stronger, your breathing more stable.." -I smirked.- "There will be no two ways around it.. you're going to sweat and sweat and sweat.. until you're on your knees and gasping for breath and rest." NamikazeSoudai: It was intimidating but encouraging and exciting at the same time. He was not going to get a cowarding back-down from her, she would work her own body until it could go no more, it wouldn't had been the first time she been in that kind of situation but back then it had been something she had no control over. "I didn't imagine so much training before the sword training." She admits. "Not using my chakra..Will be hard.." She said softly, Inkroe probably had a task on his hands he was not expecting when he decided to train her. But also she would prove to be a surprise probably, the weak skinny looking girl could beat people if need be, her actions sometimes surprised those she was facing, those who were watching. Giving her a weapon? Who knows what would be next.. TakedaInkroe: -I tilted my head, like a confused animal might when being asked something, though the animal itself could never understand the question, I however had very much heard what had been said and understood it.- "The sword is the sword, your body is the weapon.. first we refine the body.. then you will learn how to use that power, that agility and that stamina." -I looked around for a moment, attempting to find a better way to make it understood.. and then it hit me.- "Hawks are birds of prey.. but they must first learn to fly.." NamikazeSoudai: "I understand." She said softly, smiling a bit..The weather here, the solitude, it was comfortable for her. She felt like..Felt like she could relax, not having to make sure no one was out to touch her, to worry about her curse mark, about the children back at the academy.. "Shall we begin..?" She wasn't one to beat around the bush, she wanted to get in and do the training now to better herself as soon as possible. Soudai didn't know if he had everything ready yet, she would wait though, let her want to train build up in her head instead of showing that uneasy-ness outside. TakedaInkroe: "Aye.. first, we run like wolves.." -I turned on the spot and walked away to the corner of the training yard, taking in a deep breath before lowering myself onto my hands and feet, spreading my weight equally between palms and toes on the cold stone floor.- "Five laps should be more then enough to get you tired and exhausted.." -Sadly it was a known fact, that running on your hands and feet was about seven times harder to perform.. and twice as hard as that to do for extended periods of time.. even the fittest of people would get tired and worn out after a few hundred meters like this.- "Running like this builds up your upper and lower body strength.. and makes your heart pump quickly.. your breath will be stolen from you quickly." -I grinned and began running on hand and foot, placing out my right hand and grasping the ground as I then pushed off with my left foot, springing forwards and catching myself as my left hand then went out to find more space, quickly followed by a darting right foot behind me.. this process repeated on and on, instead of travelling in a square though, I performed a circular run, cutting corners while staying as close to the edge as I could, barely half way around the first lap my breath was slowly becoming quicker, I was used to this, but regardless the effort was not wasted on me.- "Head up.. and breathe slowly.. if you need to stop, stop and catch your breath." -I would continue my own running, the muscles in my shins, thighs, arms and shoulders getting sorer and sorer.- NamikazeSoudai: She had at first thought he was joking..But watching him doing it himself it was clear it was no joke, Inkroe didn't seem the type of person to do something stupid to encourage someone else to do the same. It looked like he had said too: building upper and lower back strength, the heart pump quickly and even he was beginning to pant. He did one lap before she begun, having set her bokken to the side for now, her legs were where her strength was on her body and she got down into the pose at first arched up but she lowered her lower body down and then kicked off from her feet. It was a immediatly speed burst, something she would realize would make her tire out almost immediately. Her pace continued, her left leg had taken lead over the right while her left hand was the first of the hands to reach the ground as well as she moved forward. It was awkward to watch to say the least. She was tired before her first lap was completed, half way through the second one she cut her hand on a piece of tile that was cut up and out of place. Her body was growing sorer and sorer, all over too, while her legs could handle it her arms were becoming dead logs. She made it to the second lap and then the pace speed dropped dramatically.. TakedaInkroe: -By the time I passed Soudai on my third lap sweat was building up on my arms and becoming clear under my shirt, I called out loudly.- "Don't slow.. either stop.. or run." -I passed her side and carried on going, again shouting back between panted breaths and while struggling to keep my hands planted on the floor as I ran.. in truth I was not at all used to performing this run here, I always had performed it on grass, where the land was soft beneath hand and easier to do the run on, but the step up to solid ground was one I personally had to make eventually.- "This is just.. the start." -I added the next call back with more volume.- "Push your body.. until it pushes back." -Some sadistic corner of my mind found great pleasure in having seen her on her knees and slowing, I myself had more then once blacked out in the heat of a hot day and without water to halt dehydration.. Now on my fourth lap I was suffering long aches in my arms as the muscle didn't appreciate sharing the weight of my body repeatedly and then having to push the weight up again in quick succession.- NamikazeSoudai: "I can't stop!" She had called back, thinking stopping was game over, she had failed, worthless and pathetic. She continued on, but it was because her mind was telling her too and not really that she had the strength to do so. She never knew she could feel so..heavy, her body felt like it took on an extra Soudai sitting ontop of the one crawling while the one sitting was digging something into her heart. She didn't realize it but she passed the line marking her third lap. Her head was spinning and the ground was harder with each trout..She always thought she could handle a wolf if it attacked her, she was dreading that she was wrong now, even with her ninjutsus and weapons the wolf could run circles around her and knock her down easily if it had this 'training' in it's routine each and every time it walked or ran. She was keeping a speed but occasion shooting out extra energy to catch up thinking she was falling behind, once this was over it would be a good 5mins drinking water and catching her breath. She was coming up on the fourth lap.. TakedaInkroe: -It was teeth gritting work for myself,my forearms aching longly as each quick step and kick off the ground allowed the impact to pulse through my body parts, it was entirely factual that for most people their arms were less then a third as strong as their legs, so when running on hands and feet it became painfully obvious how little use they had come to when compared to their legs as the muscle ache flowed through them.. a good pain I knew.. it was microtrauma which made muscles stronger.- "Pain is weakness leaving the body" -I recited, passing Soudai again.. and again.. even if she had halted by now while I had begun my seventh lap, I would keep going.. keep exposing myself to the pain, by breath was not short nor was my exhaustion to the scale where I needed break, so I continued forcing myself to complete an eighth and nineth lap to ensure my peak was passed in this area before I halted on the "lap line" for the tenth lap.. kneeling briefly as I calmed my breath, a long inhale through the nose as I closed my eye and a meditative pose as I allowed the pain to settle for a few moments, fifteen at most before I would open my eye again and standing up, immediately starting to jump, not regular jumps, these jumps brought my knees to my chest.. I jumped on.. and on.. and on.. twenty five.. twenty six.. twenty seven.. the fire of pain burning in my shins as I caught myself in each landing only to force my weight skywards again and again.- "There is no demand for you to match my own marks.. push yourself to your peak.. then rest as you require.. next week you shall break that peak and pass it... either by inches or feet." -I expected that the next exercise would be made obvious by my own performance.- "Knee's high.. get used to the pain in your muscles.. weakness leaving the body.. weakness leaving the body.." NamikazeSoudai: The fourth would all she reach before collasping under the pain. Her body had not been prepared for such a training, she thought, despite her stretches, flexability, those hikes she did to training grounds. She was weak, she knew, this training would better her. Her heavy breathing went on for a few seconds before she said to him, "Sorry.." And made to get back up. It was a struggle, with that strain her body went through. "I am not as fit as your previous students.." She wanted to say..Jinora..But she wanted to get over how she felt about her loss to her, mentioning it outloud would only remind her. She leaned agaisnt the nearest tree, looking down at her scrapped up hands and then knee. It wasn't a doctor's visit type of wounds but damn if it didn't sting like bloody hell. "Hmm.." TakedaInkroe: -I continued my jumping, over and over and over until my feet were barely kicking my body from the floor and as I reached the two hundredth jump I halted and knelt down almost instantly, rubbing my shins and calves to ease the muscles and breathing heavily, a rough training session which for me was just beginning, but it seemed was enough for Soudai, only after stopping this stage had I called out back to her.- "Apologies are useless, to others and yourself. Simply do better next time otherwise your efforts are entirely wasted." -I gulped loudly and began walking to the edge of the temple, slow walking delivered me to my destination after nearly a minute, just long enough to stretch out the muscles which were weakened and take long breaths before I added.- "Continue training.. rest physically for two days.. then train until you cannot stand on every third.. I will see you back here in a few days." -I turned to face the temple before sliding off the edge of the mountain, slowly lowering my chest down the rocky surface and hearing the tear of fabric as I began my descent, entirely without chakra use.. gripping at the stone before me with hand and foot.- NamikazeSoudai: "Yes master.." She whispered, glad he refused her apology instead of encouraging the allowance of apologizing for herself which she would have let get carried away. He told her a training regiment. She didn't really want to rest for two days before doing training again, that sounded too much of a wait for training, she wanted to be strong now. Of course..She wouldn't go agaisnt his orders. Soudai stood up, going over to her flask and drinking some water. She would depart here if he was not coming back.